The International Society for Chemotherapy is the primary international organization concerned with antimicrobial and anticancer therapy. It has not, until recently, had a significant USA input. Recently the Inter-American Society for Chemotherapy has been organized to provide a USA affiliate to the ISC, such as have existed for many years in other countries. The Inter-American Society, with the parent ISC, is heavily oriented toward chemotherapy of infections, and not toward cancer chemotherapy. The American Society for Cancer Chemotherapy has recently been organized as the USA cancer affiliate of both of the other organizations. The proposed workshop at the Kyoto 14th Congress of the ISC will be a major effort of the new USA affiliate. The organizing committee of the 14th International Chemotherapy Congress has authorized the proposed workshop as the only activity at the forthcoming Congress which will be systematically devoted to the important problem of anticancer drug resistance. The recent advances in understanding of the genetics, mechanisms and potential methods for reversing anticancer drug resistance make this workshop very timely and of potentially great benefit to patients. We have made arrangements for the rapid photo offset publication of the proceedings of the workshop in a format that permits the inclusion of more scientific detail than the actual workshop.